The University of Virginia, in response to a public-records request last month, reported to us back then that the salary paid to baseball coach Brian O’Connor was at $717,111 in the 2022-2023 academic sports year.
New today are the details from the three-year contract extension announced back on June 13, on the eve of Virginia’s opening game in the 2024 College World Series, which calls for total compensation for O’Connor of $1.4 million beginning with the 2024-2025 academic sports year.
The compensation package detailed in the offer sheet obtained through the records requests lists $366,736 in base salary for the 2024-2025 academic sports year, with supplemental and licensing compensation at $833,264, and annual payments each Jan. 31 in the amount of $200,000.
The offer sheet notes that O’Connor’s pay will increase 5 percent each year after Year 1 in 2024-2025.
In addition to that guaranteed $1.4 million annual compensation, O’Connor is due bonuses of $10,000 for a Regional appearance, $20,000 for a Super Regional appearance, $50,000 for a College World Series berth, and $100,000 for a CWS championship.
The contract also awards O’Connor longevity bonuses of $250,000 on June 30, 2026, and on June 30, 2029.
The three-year extension, which O’Connor actually signed on June 13, while his team was in Omaha preparing for the College World Series, runs through the end of the 2031 season.
The total compensation package puts O’Connor among the Top 10 highest-paid college coaches, basically in range with what the top coaches in the SEC are getting.
Notably, O’Connor’s compensation is $200,000 more than what Texas was paying its former baseball coach, David Pierce, whose total compensation was $1.2 million in 2024.
Pierce was let go after his team was eliminated in the Regional round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament by Texas A&M, whose coach, Jim Schlossnagle, left his job to take the Texas job after taking the Aggies to a second-place finish in Omaha last month.
A&M paid Schlossnagle $1.46 million a year in the 2023-2024 academic sports year, so we can presume that he is going to be getting a raise from that level from Texas, though details of his new deal with the school are not publicly known right now.
This is relevant vis-à-vis O’Connor because it was rumored last week that Texas A&M was interested in and had reached out to O’Connor about the job.
Based on the contract details that we have here, money wouldn’t have been a lure for O’Connor, who is already being paid within range of what we can expect Texas will be paying Schlossnagle.
One other rumor-killer detail in the offer sheet: it had been speculated online that the buyout in O’Connor’s contract with UVA was a sticking point.
The offer sheet lists a modest buyout of $500,000.
It’s hard to imagine $500,000 being that much of a hindrance.
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Chris Graham
